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The brother-in-law of the Earl of Shaftesbury, on trial for his murder, was thrown out of court today after making a dramatic verbal attack on the late peer's family.

The third day of the trial in Nice, in the south of France, was held up when Mohammed M'Barek began shouting at the Shaftesbury family, seated 15 yards away in the public gallery.

Four police officers removed the stocky 43-year-old from the dock after he cried out: "It's cruel - the French justice system is criminal.

"We are not guilty. We are the victims. It's the Shaftesbury family who want the money."

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Mohammed M'Barek, brother-in-law of the Earl of Shaftesbury and accused of his murder, was thrown out of court today after a dramatic verbal attack on the Shaftesbury family

Mohammed M'Barek, brother-in-law of the Earl of Shaftesbury and accused of his murder, was thrown out of court today after a dramatic verbal attack on the Shaftesbury family

M'Barek is accused of deliberately killing the peer during a drunken row in November 2004.

He has admitted killing Lord Shaftesbury, but denies murder, saying he strangled him "accidentally".

His sister Jamila, the estranged third wife of the late peer, is in the dock alongside him, accused of paying him 150,000 euros (£105,000) to carry out the killing.

The prosecution claim that Ms M'Barek paid her brother to murder her estranged husband so he could not divorce her and deny her the chance to inherit valuable properties in France and Ireland.

Lord Shaftesbury's badly-decomposed body was found in a remote ravine in the foothills of the Alps in April 2005, five months after he went missing from his £130-a-night hotel on the French Riviera.

The court also heard that from a woman who ran an escort service in Geneva, who said she introduced Ms M'Barek to the earl.

Catherine Gurtler, who advertised her business in the International Herald Tribune newspaper, said the earl had often contacted her for girls.

In February 2002, she said, Lord Shaftesbury rang her for an escort, and she suggested a girl called Sophie, who had been with the earl before.

Sophie told Ms Gurtler she was not available, and suggested her friend "Sarah" instead.

Ms Gurtler said she understood "Sarah" to be Ms M'Barek, and added that she knew she was a "professional".

Yesterday, the court heard a written statement from Ms M'Barek's first husband, in which he said she often went by the name Sarah, and her children knew her by that name.

Ms Gurtler, who works in airport security in Geneva, said: "Jamila has one goal in life, and that is to make money.

"When she wasn't working for agencies, she was working in hostess bars.

"She just wanted to take advantage of the earl as much as possible."

Ms Gurtler said the girls she introduced were paid around 1,500 euros (£1,020) a night for their services.

But she claimed that she had never received any money from the late earl, saying he sent her a cheque, but it bounced.

Outside the court, Ms Gurtler approached the current Earl, Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, and asked him to honour his father's unpaid bills.

She presented the late earl's son with a Drummond Bank cheque for £1,279, made out in her name, dated February 4, 2004 and signed "Shaftesbury" - which she said the bank had rejected.

Speaking afterwards, she said the current Earl had refused to pay.

Ms Gurtler, 58, laughed at the idea that Ms M'Barek had been in love with Lord Shaftesbury, saying: "Jamila is a bitch. She manipulated him to get his money."

Philip Rymer, the estate manager for the Shaftesburys, earlier told the Cour D'Assises des Alpes-Maritimes that he had harboured suspicions about Ms M'Barek's motives in marrying the earl.

He said: "I felt Lord Shaftesbury was keen to show her off, but she was not reciprocating.

"There had been a deterioration in his outlook on life since about 1999, which we all believed was connected with the death of his mother.

"He was withdrawn, isolated and vulnerable. He was clearly unhappy.

"One can't help but conclude that the companions he found were more interested in his wealth than in him. He lacked real friendship."

The Eton and Oxford-educated earl inherited his title from his grandfather at the age of 22, along with the 9,000-acre family estate in Wimborne St Giles, Dorset.

When M'Barek was brought back into court after a five-minute adjournment, he apologised for losing his temper before launching a second, more measured attack on the Shaftesburys.

He said: "When Jamila met Anthony, he was like a tramp, and she turned him into a man.

"She stopped him taking cocaine, she loved him - whereas his family ignored him. They didn't show any love to him.

"They turned him into an aggressive man who looked for comfort with these hostesses in shady bars, who gave him cocaine and made him drink. "Jamila looked after him - he was like a baby."

Yesterday Lord Shaftesbury's mistress, Nadia Orche, told the court he had become so afraid of his estranged wife in the weeks leading up to his death that he would agree to meet her only in public places.

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Lover Nadia Orche

Lover Nadia Orche

Terrified Lord Shaftesbury was so afraid of ruthless former prostitute Jamila M'Barek - who had bragged openly of knowing Arab assassins - that he would try to meet her only in public places, it was claimed.

On the day he died, the 66-year-old aristocrat had "sensed real danger" before having to visit her at home to discuss details of their divorce, his last lover Nadia Orche told the murder trial in Nice on the French Riviera.

Miss Orche, dressed in a turquoise shirt, white jeans and sequinned high heels, and wearing a large amount of heavy gold jewellery, told the court yesterday: "Jamila is a money-grabbing monster and coward who hid behind her violent brother and scheming family.

"After they separated, he feared for his life and would only meet her in public places.

"He was afraid of going to her apartment because she always had people there with her, especially her brother.

"She treated him like a cash machine during their marriage and after they split up.

"She had everything she needed to be happy, but poisoned everything around her.

The Earl of Shaftesbury

The Earl of Shaftesbury

"But he had finally found love with me and dreamed of settling down and having children."

With a poetic flourish, Miss Orche, who has three children from an earlier relationship, said the late peer had "stooped too low to gather his rose" in involving himself with Ms M'Barek.

The earl met escort girl and Moroccan single mother-of-three Nadia in a Cannes hostess bar in April 2004 after his marriage to Jamila had broken down.

Within weeks he was living with her at an apartment in the nearby town of Vence.

Nadia said: "On the day he died I had a very bad feeling about him visiting Jamila at her home.

"He had wanted to meet her at the Hilton Hotel in Cannes, but she insisted he come to her apartment. I sensed danger and so did he.

"I loved Anthony with all my heart. He was an amazing man. Sincere, generous and even naive.

"He carried photos of his sister Frances and his mother with him wherever he went. These were the two most important women in his life.

"Perhaps the third woman he craved was the daughter we would have had together."

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Jamila M'barek, 45, is alleged to have paid her brother, co-accused Mohammed M'barek, 43, to strangle Anthony Ashley-Cooper in Cannes

The Earl's sister, Lady Frances Ashley-Cooper, broke down in tears in the public gallery as Miss Orche told of the pet name Lord Shaftesbury gave her daughter.

She said: "He wanted a daughter, and started calling my daughter 'Raspberry', because his mother loved raspberries."

Nadia said Jamila - whom the earl had also met in a Cannes hostess bar - had phoned her two days before the earl died, wanting to visit her at Nadia's home in Vence.

"I was afraid of her and her family, so I left quickly with my children and took refuge at my aunt's house in Antibes.

"She had told me once in a threatening way that she knew Tunisian Arab assassins. I was very afraid. What would I have done if she attacked me?"

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Mohammed M'Barek has confessed to strangling the Earl 'accidentally'

Mohammed M'Barek has confessed to strangling the Earl 'accidentally'

Nadia said on one occasion when she had been staying in a hotel with Lord Shaftesbury, Jamila had come to visit them and suggested three-in-a-bed sex with her and the earl.

She added: "I have no idea what her motivation was in making this crude suggestion. I told her it went against my principles.

"She is twisted, amoral and valueless.

"She and her brother even killed Anthony at prayer time during the Muslim holy period of Ramadan. That is unforgivable. The woman has no shame."

Earlier, the court heard how the eccentric earl had visited a fortune teller on the day before he died, who told him he may become a father again.

He had visited Riviera clairvoyant Martine Dupre-Cordier to discover if Nadia was pregnant.

But he was told although Nadia was not carrying his child, he could "have luck" with pregnancies in future.

Miss Dupre-Cordier told the court: "The lord told me he wanted to divorce his wife.

"He said he was very much in love with Nadia, and wanted to have a child with her.

"At this point Nadia called him, and he put her on to me. I could tell from her voice that she was not pregnant."

The fortune-teller, who was paid £35 for the private consultation with the earl, said she told him his divorce would go smoothly, and that happiness lay ahead of him.

Philippe Soussi, the lawyer for the Ashley-Cooper family, then asked Dupre-Cordier: "Did you predict his death?"

She replied: "No."

Jamila denies a charge of charge of conspiracy to murder and Mohammed M'Barak denies murder.

Both claim the death was an accident when a drunken row over money turned violent.

But damning evidence from a mobile phone mast presented earlier in court proved Jamila had been at the spot where her husband's body was dumped two days before he died.

Jamila has said she had celebrity lovers including George Clooney, Bruce Willis and Bjorn Borg, and had no need of the earl's fortune, which included a 9,000-acre stately home in Wimbourne, Dorset.

She has attempted to summon Clooney, Willis and Borg to court to give evidence but all deny knowing her and refused to attend.

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The Earl with Jamila in happier times

The Earl with Jamila in happier times

Jamila has also claimed the earl was a sex-obsessed alcoholic addicted to Viagra, who had left her for another prostitute.

But the court heard psychiatric evidence describing Jamila as "money-grabbing compulsive liar obsessed with having a life of luxury and ease".

The court heard how the earl had changed his will shortly before marrying Jamila in November 2002, to leave his new bride properties worth millions of pounds in Ireland and France.

But a statement from chief investigating magistrate Catherine Bonnici read out in court said: "When the marriage turned sour, Jamila realised she didn't want a divorce in case the earl changed his will.